There are few jobs left for a manager of The Great One’s stature and those clubs may not want him, anyway.

Just for fun, let’s speculate on what comes next for Mou if when his United tenure ends.

Up until a couple years ago he might have had all sorts of top level options, but the flame-out at Chelsea and the mess at Old Trafford has the entirety of the punditing world talking about how the game has moved on from defensive football. Continue reading “What’s Next for Jose Mourinho?”→

These days at Chelsea we don’t support the players and nurture their talent. We expect champions in the first XI because we’ve been winners for the last 14 years. We don’t have the time or place to put a kid in and let them make their mistakes (unless you’re Christensen) because we expect titles. We loan our talent out and expect them to flourish far away from Stamford Bridge.

In general we heap pressure on the players who have massive amounts of potential and the fans at the ground make no bones about telling them they’re not good enough. So they leave because their confidence is shot and spend a couple of years at a team where they are encouraged to grow. Then they come back to the Premiership a couple of years later and light the place up.

If we supported all of the players we had and encouraged them to improve? Who knows where they would be in Chelsea history.

That the greatest competition in world sports, save possibly the Olympics, would fail to include the men most regard as the two greatest players alive (and certainly two of the greatest of all time), seems unthinkable. But it could absolutely happen.

Controversy over how to divvy up the revenues means uncertainty in England. The outcome of these deliberations could move us closer to a European SuperLiga including the big six Prem clubs (and maybe more than that)…

In June 2013, Michael Emenalo officially put in a request to leave the club with the reappointment of Jose Mourinho. Rather than letting Emenalo go, Roman Abramovich chose to keep the technical director. Since then, the power struggle between Emenalo and whichever manager has been ever present.

Relatively inoffensive at first glance. Very minimalist (which with Nike is a nice way of saying they have no ideas.) And as always, they’re Nike first and the club second. Stay tuned – more on this in a minute.

Nike football design eats every dick in the bag.

I’m not a fan of Nike soccer (hereafter referred to as “football”) design, so it was not a happy day when the new kit agreement was announced. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy about the £zillion/year they’re giving us, but since the news broke I’ve been buying all the Adidas merch I can afford because it’s going to be at least 15 years before I buy anything new.

Damn shame, too – I actually like much of their football (herafter referred to as “throwball”) design. I know a lot of you hate the U of Oregon’s throwball unis, but I find a lot of it to be innovative and stylish. YMMV.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about what we can all expect from the next decade and a half of kit abominations. Take notes – here’s what you can look forward to.